Assembled PC for Rhino: quite a few doubts

Rhino Windows Hardware
1

Hi there, i have to put toghether a PC for a friend who wants to use Rhino for some 3D modeling.
I’m familiar with other stuff like SketchUp but of course, not as professional as Rhino, and all the Adobe Suite, but i cannot find anywhere some benchmarks or some advice for this program.
First of all, he don’t have told me yet his budget for this PC but i can imagine 1000€ more or less, so i’ll start to think on this budget to save some time.

Looking at support page i’ll probably go with:
-Intel 4790k
-z97 (i’ll choose one after because is not relevant with the program)
-2x4gb RAM
-Sapphire R9 390 8gb
-650W PSU at least 80+ gold rated and at least 54A on 12v rail
-Samsung 850 Pro 256gb
-Seagate Barracuda 2x2tb RAID 1 or something like that for storage.
-Windows 8.1 Pro
-Case and cooler are not relevant and it’s not a problem.

So, my questions are:
-will an i7 quad core be enough? I have that CPU as well and so far i don’t have any issue anywhere, good bang for the buck, cheaper than 6700k and 5820k.

-Will a possible i5 be enough? For example, 6500k or 4690k.

-How about AMD CPUs like FX 8320 or 8350? Will they struggle because of poor single threaded performance?

-How about memory speed? He’ll se many difference from 2133mhz to 1600? Also, will 8gb be enough or 16 is better?

-Finally, what GPU is better? I’m and AMD guy, but i had also some Nvidia card in the past. Will Rhino get some benefit from that huge 8gb of VRAM of R9 390 or CUDA is better here? And if so, what Nvidia card is better for this job? Maxwell or Kepler? In either case i was thinking about a GTX 770 2gb or a GTX 970.
Also, some budget AMD card could be the R9 380 4gb.

-Also, are there many difference from 970 to 390 and from 970 to 960?

-Lastly, how about R9 280x (a.k.a. 7970ghz)? Will its massive FP64 perfomance matter here?

2

How big are the files and drawings going to be? I have rhino running on low end dual core machines all the way up to an I7 with a GTX970 GPU. The higher end machines are smoother and faster, but the 10-15 year old dual core machines (running XP) can handle the die assemblies we design without much hesitation.

3

Some metal pieces, possibly with high details because they are probably going to release 3D models online of their products. I can’t more precise than this i’m sorry.

4

I just built two of these: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/beezerlm/saved/HKB9TW

I put this build together to run rhino out in our shop. I feel it is a pretty good bang for the buck.

5

I don’t like that much GTX 960. It cost too much and offers too little. If i have to go with Nvidia i’ll rather go with a 970.
How about FX CPUs? Do they struggle here or is well optimized for multi threading? They have only one FPU per module (2 core) so i’m quite skeptical. If this build was mine i’ll surely consider those but if Intel has better perfomance i’ll go with that

6

I also prefer the GTX970 but I felt even the 960 was overkill for our needs. I have not run a benchmark test on the FX CPUs, but I have about 5 of them running Rhino w/RhinoCam plugin and they perform very well. I figured if I am going to have a GPU that I could save some on the CPU end. I know the Intel processors have a better single thread time than the FX series, but honestly I can not tell the difference between the two when running Rhino. The only time I notice a difference is when doing heavy number crunching like processing a large video or backtesting large amounts of data.

7

So they are most likely the same in this application? To be honest, i could save him quite a lot of money, but i don’t know if he can deal with OC, temps and power consumpion, most likely he won’t or is not capable. Maybe Intel could be a better option here.

8

OverClocking? I would not OC an AMD unless you get some water cooling. Honestly I don’t think the risk is worth the small gain in performance. Intel runs cooler and performs better in benchmark tests, but I feel the FX series is the best bang for the buck. Just my opinion though…

9

I know tha OC put a lot of heat into it but i won’t skimp on cooler. Moreover, i won’t OC too far, this with every chip, reliability first.
And what about RAM frequency? Is worth here or not?
About GPU? Nvidia or better save some money with AMD?

10

I am no Ram expert, but I believe CAS has a larger effect than frequency, but both play a role in the overall response time. It’s been a while since I read into RAM specs, but that is usually what I look for. The math is explained here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/299012-30-latency-speed

I have Nvidia and AMD GPUs. I now go with Nvidia because I have had less issues with them.

11

Ok, i have more informations now. He wants a laptop, so bye desktop stuff (unfortunately i have to say).
Some more info on this type of machine? Here of course Intel 4 cores + HT i think, but what about GPU?

12

depending on your budget, HP has some laptop workstations that look pretty good.

http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/Laptops/windows-7-zbooks#features.

should be able to handle anything Rhino can throw at it.